How to remove transmission shaft (driveshaft) from differential

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  • OVERALL DIFFICULTY INDEX: 3/10
  • IF YOU HAVE NO TOOLS YOU SPEND $125 TO GET THEM FOR THIS JOB
  • IF YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE YOU SPEND 30 MINUTES TO CARRY OUT THIS JOB
  • RISK OF HAND INJURY, SEE BELOW
BEFORE YOU START
  • Make sure to use a drive shaft extractor fork for this intervention, and not to attempt pulling out the drive shaft by hand as this could result in shoulder or hand injury without any result!
  • Not all cars require the extractor tool, some drive shafts can simply be pulled out of the differential by sliding them out with almost no force, like on Peugeot and Citroën vehicles.
  • The below tutorial is shown on the front drive shafts of a 4x4 Dacia (Renault) Duster, using the slide hammer to extract the shafts. This intervention remains valid for any vehicle which drive shafts cannot be pulled out of the differential by simply sliding them out.
  • This tutorial is for removing the driveshaft from the differential, click here for removing the drive shaft from the wheel hub.
DISCLAIMER:
Our pictorials are of informative nature and do illustrate works carried out by ourselves at our own premises for our own use and satisfaction.
Readers who envisage to carry out similar works inspired by the below method shall do this at their own risks and liability.

Special tool for drive shafts removal - the slide hammer and fork

A 5 Kg slide hammer with a cast iron fork end is required to extract the drive shafts from the differential.
These are sold as kits that allow the extraction of the shaft, then the dismantling of their heads.
It's commonly called "drive shaft puller" and you may buy one from our partners' stores further below on this page.
Before fixing the fork to the slide hammer, you need to check that it fits well between the driveshaft and the differential, that there's enough room for the nut behind the fork and to imagine on which side and from which angle you will fit the drive shaft puller.
Once done, tighten well the fork fixing nuts on the drive shaft extractor, you don't want to damage the thread of your hammer's rod, thus the need to tighten strongly those nuts.

​​Removing the driveshafts from the differential

Insert the fork behind the drive shaft as shown, in a manner that you can hold the drive shaft pulling tool with both hands.
Slide the hammer so as to strike the stop with strong but short movements.
The drive shaft will come out of the differential within 5 to 6 hammer blows.
That's it!

See also our other pictorials on 4x4 Dacia Duster transmission.... 

...and buy your drive shaft puller from our partners' stores:
And accessorize your Dacia Duster Phases 1 and 2 here: